Uttarāpatha untranslated

Uttarāpatha. The northern division of Jambudīpa. Its boundaries are nowhere explicitly stated in Pāli literature. It has been suggested (See Law, Geography of Early Buddhism, pp.48ff) that Uttarāpatha was originally the name of a great trade-route, the northern high road which extended from Sāvatthī to Takkasilā in Gandhāra, and that it lent its name – as did the Dakkhiṇāpatha – to the region through which it passed. If this be so, the name would include practically the whole of Northern India, from Aṅga in the east to Gandhāra in the north-west, and from the Himālaya in the north to the Vindhyā in the south. According to the brahmanical tradition, as recorded in the Kāvyamīmāṁsā (p.93), the Uttarāpatha is to the west of Prithudaka (Pehoa, about fourteen miles west of Thāneswar).

The chief divisions included in this territory are mentioned in the Pāli literature as Kasmīra-Gandhāra and Kamboja. This region was famous from very early times for its horses and horse-dealers (See, e.g., Vin.iii.6; Vin-a.i.175), and horses were brought down for sale from there to such cities as Benares (Ja.ii.287).

In Uttarāpatha was Kaṁsabhoga, where, in the city of Asitañjana, King Mahā Kaṁsa reigned (Ja.iv.79). The Divyāvadāna (p.470) mentions another city, Utpalavatī.

According to the Mahā Vastu (Mvu.iii.303), Ukkala, the residence of Tapassu and Bhalluka, was in Uttarāpatha, as well as Takkasilā, the famous university (Mvu.ii.166).

There was regular trade between Sāvatthī and Uttarāpatha (Pv-a.100).

Aṅgaṇika Bhāradvāja had friends in Uttarāpatha (Thag­a.i.339).